Arsenal could end up paying up to £4.5m for Kelechi Nwakali, the Nigerian midfielder they purchased in the summer from Diamond Academy.

The 18-year-old is currently on loan in the Netherlands with MVV Maastricht and should stay there until the end of the season (unless he doesn’t like it) and seems to be doing well.

Nwakali’s transfer fee was reported as £2.5m but this tells only half the story.

Here’s the rest:

Arsenal paid Diamond Academy an initial 10% of Nwakali’s £2.5m transfer fee up front. This was paid within 15 working days of the deal being signed. The balance was then paid when his International Transfer Certificate was issued.

A further £2m is payable based on certain clauses being met. These are broken down as follows:

£500,000 should he obtain enough senior Nigerian appearances to obtain a UK work permit (75% of Nigeria matches in one calendar year)

£500,000 for making the Arsenal first team – this will be broken down into payments of £20,000 per appearance in the Premier League or Champions League up to a maximum of £500,000

£1m sell-on fee – Arsenal will pay Diamond Academy 10% of any transfer fee they receive for Nwakali above £20m up to a maximum of £1m

Source: Owngoalnigeria came into the possession of an official transfer document, signed by Arsenal’s Richard Law and sent to Diamon Academy’s President, Martin Apugo.